101 



N. Ord. ROSACES. 

 Tribe Potentillea>. 



Genus Potentilla,* Linn. B. & H., Gen., i, p. 620; Baill., 

 Hist. PL, i, p. 466. Species about 150 or more, natives 

 chiefly of the temperate and colder regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. 



101. Potentilla Tormeiltilla,t Stokes in Withering, Bot. Arr., 

 ed. 2, p. 535 (1787). 



Tormentil. 



i. Tormentilla erecta, Linn. T. officinalis, Curtis. Potentilla 

 sylvestris, Necker. 



Figures. Woodville, t. 181; Hayne, ii, t. 48; Steph. & Ch., i, t. 26; 

 Nees, t. 309 (bad); Curt., PL Londin., fasc. 5; Syme, E. Bot., iii, 

 t. 430. 



Description. A perennial herb. B-ootstock short, nearly cylin- 

 icalj solid, about \ inch, or more in diameter, branched, trun- 

 ite below, abruptly tapering above, giving off long cylindrical 

 >ots below, the upper part with reddish brown chaffy scales ; 

 lark brown externally, bright blood-red in the centre. Stems 

 mmerous, from the axils of the chaffy scales, very slender, cylin- 

 ical, 1 foot or more long, widely spreading or prostrate, pale- 

 green or reddish, shortly hairy, much branched in the upper part. 

 Leaves alternate and shortly stalked below, usually opposite and 

 nearly or quite sessile above, all with lanceolate or oval, entire or 

 palmately toothed stipules, trifoliate, leaflets small, sessile, 

 obovate- or lanceolate-wedge-shaped, entire and tapering below, 

 with a few large teeth above, hairy on both surfaces, silky on the 

 veins beneath, dark green, paler below. Flowers small, scarcely 

 ^ inch wide, on long slender stalks terminating the stems and 



* Potentilla, the name of the Silverweed (P. Anserina, L.) in the 16th 

 centuiy ; from its supposed powerful virtues. 



f Tormentilla, a pharmaceutical name of the middle ages ; from having 

 been employed to relieve the pain (tormentum) of toothache, or that of dysentery 

 (tormina). 



